The last of the three matches scheduled at the T20 World Cup on Friday is basically a dead rubber as we head to Group C where we will see New Zealand taking on Uganda in a T20 international for the first time.
New Zealand would have headed to the Caribbean with more than an eye on winning the tournament but they will be going home when their group phase is done. Uganda will bow out of the competition after this match but would love to take a second win with them.
New Zealand
I think it is fair to say that New Zealand had the hardest start of the tournament that anyone had in terms of having to wait over a week for their first game and when their opening matches came along they faced a tough Afghanistan side who were full of confidence having already battered Uganda and then they ran into the tournament hosts West Indies who are about as dangerous a side in this format as you are going to get.
There is no doubt that the Kiwis haven’t been at the races at the same time but you still have to reflect that they have had it tough. Their batters just haven’t adjusted to the conditions at all and just haven’t backed up the bowlers who actually haven’t done a bad job in the circumstances. The big issue though was they didn’t have any warm up matches in this part of the world and you sense the fall out from that will have repercussions once their campaign comes to an end.
Uganda
Just being here was always going to be a success for Uganda but the fact that they have already won a match in the tournament just adds icing to the cake. It means that they can go out in this match and play with a bit of freedom and look to pull off one of the bigger upsets that this competition has ever seen. They will be going home at the end of this match regardless of whether they win it or lose it so they will want to leave on something of a high.
If that is going to happen then Uganda have to bat better than they have done so far. It is understandable that they have really struggled in these conditions because they are alien to them but there is no reason not to have a good go with the bat here and see if they can put a score up. To their credit, they have bowled really well and certainly haven’t gone down because of anything they have done with the ball so that unit can hold their heads up high.
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Team News
It remains to be seen now whether New Zealand look a little to the future in their remaining two matches or whether they stick with the old guard who surely won’t be around when this tournament is played again in two years.
There is no indication that Uganda are going to make wholesale changes just for the sake of it so the players that got them here and have performed as well as they can will be given one last chance to show their talents on this stage.
Betting
The sixes line interests me here. The pitches in Tarouba haven’t been fantastic for batting so far and there is nothing to suggest that it will be any better here. Uganda have only hit one six in their three matches so far and I don’t think there is a lot of mileage in them hitting many more than that against this New Zealand attack which is unrelenting and tough to get away. To be fair to the Africans though, no team has really got away from them so far.
Afghanistan only hit five sixes against them on a Guyana wicket which wasn’t that bad while West Indies only hit seven sixes and both of those are bigger hitting sides overall than this New Zealand one. Uganda bowled 17 balls to Andre Russell and he didn’t hit a single six which takes some doing. The top four for New Zealand look massively out of touch and if Uganda bat first you wouldn’t think there would be many runs for the batters after the top four for New Zealand to get. I’ll play the under on that sixes line.
Tips
Back Under 9.5 sixes for a 3/10 stake at 1.91 with Bet365
